19 Going on 20
by The Path of Supreme Conquest
Summary: This was the 19th boyfriend. He hated it, but she was sure that her bad luck with men was just a fluke. She was sure that it would end soon enough, with the 20th boyfriend. He never commented on how she had said that after every single breakup.


**This came to me when I should have been sleeping…**

**So, take that into account when you judge the plot line.**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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Sesshomaru sat in his idling car, staring at her. She hadn't realized that he had pulled up yet, seeing as he had drawn in his aura. It was a good thing she hadn't seen him, too. He needed some time to collect himself. He always needed time to collect himself when these things happened.

It was almost 2:00 AM. She had called him not ten minutes ago, asking him to pick her up. He had heard the way she had been trying to choke back her sobs, but he hadn't said anything. He never did. He had simply assured her that he was coming, gotten dressed, and headed to the location she had given him.

He had found her sitting outside of the hotel on the sidewalk. She was wearing only a men's suit jacket. She didn't even have any shoes on. There were newly forming bruises on her face, and even a few on her thighs.

Sesshomaru clenched the steering wheel before looking away, breathing deeply and schooling his expression. She never reacted well to his anger.

As soon as he had calmed himself as much as he could, he sent out a pulse with his youki, alerting her to his presence.

He saw her head snap up and her eyes lock onto his position. They were dry by now, and only slightly red. She stood from the sidewalk and ran over to the car hurriedly. She opened the door and slid in the car, settling herself into the seat and buckling up. She looked over to him with a smile that he thought was distinctly inappropriate.

He didn't say so.

"Hey, Sesshomaru. Thanks for picking me up; I know it's late."

He nodded and started the car.

They sat in silence for a while, until Sesshomaru spoke.

"Shall I take you home?" he asked quietly.

She hesitated. "Actually, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh?" he pushed, already knowing what that meant, but wanting to hear her say it, needing to hear her say it.

"Yeah," she whispered. "We sort of broke it off."

Sesshomaru nodded, changing his course so that they were taking the long way home– to his home.

"This is the nineteenth, is it not?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

She looked at him grimly. "You know what happened. You always know."

"You left your shoes," he said, dropping the subject.

If she didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't make her. He was actually glad she didn't want to; he wasn't sure he could handle hearing actual confirmation of his thoughts come from her mouth. He knew that if he did hear such a thing, nothing could stop him from hunting down her latest boyfriend– ex-boyfriend– and disposing of him.

It had happened once before, her third boyfriend, he was sure. Three days after he had picked her up, report of her ex-boyfriend's suicide had been in the paper. She had known the truth.

"I was in a rush," she replied, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Sesshomaru nodded. He knew what that meant too.

"Sesshomaru," she began. "You'll leave him alone, won't you? You won't ruin him, or hurt him, or-"

"Do not ask that of me," he said, barely stopping himself from begging.

He hadn't killed any of her boyfriends aside form the third one, but all of the others had faced some sort of punishment, be it physical or financial. It was the only thing he could do to keep his sanity, short of locking her up and forbidding her from dating.

He had tried that once and it had only resulted in a couple of serious burns from her purification powers.

"Sesshomaru," she whispered.

"Do not," he said sharply.

"Please don't," she asked, ignoring him.

"Why?" he growled.

"He… I don't think he meant to. He just thought I wanted something that I didn't. That's all. You know that's all."

Neither of them pointed out the fact that she was lying. They both knew that her boyfriend hadn't cared about what she had wanted, but neither of them said anything about it.

"You are entirely too forgiving," was what Sesshomaru settled on.

"Thank you," she whispered. "And try not to worry. This was a fluke. So were all of the others. I'm bound to find a good man the next time around."

Sesshomaru didn't respond, hating what she was saying for so many reasons, but unwilling to say so.

They spent the rest of the drive in silence.

When they finally reached the upscale apartment complex, which Sesshomaru both owned and lived in, Sesshomaru parked his car in the parking garage and got out. He walked over to Kagome, who had already started to pad towards him, and smoothly swept her up into his arms.

She didn't bother protesting, used to the routine. She buried her head into his chest and tried to ignore how tender her face was.

When they reached the complex, the doorman opened the door, not saying anything.

He was used to the routine too.

Sesshomaru walked to the private elevator that went up to his penthouse suite and got in. The ride up was silent. Once they reached his apartment, Sesshomaru walked to the room in his house that was especially designated for Kagome.

He set her down gently on her bed, and looked down at her.

Kagome offered him a soft smile, before pulling back the covers. She slipped under them and looked at him. "Sit with me?" she whispered.

He couldn't say no, and he wouldn't have even if he could have. He sat down next to her, and she curled up into his side. He wrapped his arm around her and let his head fall on top of hers, his eyelids fluttering as he inhaled her scent.

Kagome sighed sleepily. "Thanks, Sesshomaru."

"Hnn."

…

**So, I partially hate myself for writing that, because I hate putting Kagome in abusive relationships, but I love myself too because the atmosphere of the whole story is just…!**

**Gah!**

**I love the atmosphere.**

**T.N.T!**


End file.
